Primetime Ratings: ‘Empire’ Paces Fox to Win

The second-season Fox hit attracted 12.2 million viewers Wednesday, a 6% drop from the October. 7 episode, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings. Lead-in Rosewood scored a 1.4, down 18% from its previous airing.

Ultimately, we still feel like it’s far too early to tell how a few of these shows are going to fare in the long-term this year. Like “Grey’s Anatomy”, which was at one point getting insane numbers, we think it will find a settling-off point that is still better than far and away most of TV. It placed third among the broadcast networks for its 8 o’clock hour.

CBS offered the strongest competition to Fox with “Survivor” (9.1 million total viewers), “Criminal Minds” (8.9 million) and “Code Black” (6.9 million). At 10 p.m., however, Nashville ticked up two-tenths to a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49.

On NBC, The Mysteries of Laura rated a 1.0, down a tenth from last week; Law & Order: SVU a flat 1.5, and Chicago P.D. also flat at 1.5. It also was down 8% from last week among the young adults (18-to-49-year-olds) prized by advertisers, although it was easily Wednesday’s top show in both ratings categories.

ABC’s comedies were all down a tenth week to week: “The Middle” (1.9/7 in 18-49, 7.1 million viewers overall), “The Goldbergs” (2.0/7 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall), “Modern Family” (2.6/8 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall) and “Black-ish” (1.8/6 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall).

The CW had an above-average night with “Arrow” (2.5 million) and “Supernatural” (1.9 million).

But “Empire” was the overwhelming favorite with the local 18-to-49 age group.